Piano hammer



1959 F. T. MACHALEK 2,870,665

PIANO HAMMER Filed Sept. 21, 1956 AT TORNE Y United States Patent PIANO HAMlVIER Ferdinand T. Machalek, Fort Wayne, Ind., assignor to International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation Application September 21, 1956, Serial No. 611,114

2 Claims. (Cl. 84-254) This invention relates to a piano hammer and more particularly to a piano hammer of simplified and improved design.

Conventional piano hammers ordinarily consist of a combination of elements, the hammer occupying a given space. During recent years, considerable time and effort has been spent in developing electrical or electronic pianos wherein size of the finished product is an important factor. One of the principal selling points of an electronic piano is its smallness of size. To accomplish this reduction in size, it has been necessary to alter the design of the various elements, among which is the hammer.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and novel hammer for a piano.

It is another object of this invention to provide a hammer construction which is smaller in size than the conventional hammer but yet retains the principal operating features thereof.

In the accomplishment of this invention, there is provided a structure comprising a hammer body having a hammer-felt-supporting section, this section having oppositely disposed side surfaces, and a hammer-felt fitted onto said section and being fastened to both said side surfaces.

The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along section line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an exploded view illustrating one method for fabricating the invention.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the piano hammer is composed of an elongated body 1 of rectangular cross-section, as seen in Fig. 2. Near the left-hand end of the body 1 is a W- shaped profile or section, indicated generally by the reference numeral 2, this section having opposite side surfaces 3 and 4 and a striking point 5. Fitted into the W-shaped section is a pad of hammer felt 6 of conventional composition, this felt being formed over the striking point and glued along the surfaces 3 and 4. It should be noted that the pad is not glued along the two surfaces 7, the gluing being restricted to the surfaces 3 and 4. A hammer flange 8 pivotally supports the hammer body 1 by means of a suitable pin 9 so that the hammer may swing in the usual manner.

One method of constructing the hammer of Fig. 1 is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 3. A section 14 of felt cut to the proper size is placed over the W-shaped section 2 as shown and the surfaces 3 and 4 are covered with a suitable adhesive or glue. A pressing head of suitable shape which conforms substantially to the finished hammer is used to press the felt pad 14 over the striking point 5 and into intimate contact with the surfaces 3 and 4. By this means, the surfaces 15 and 16 of the pad 14 are forced against and fastened to the respective surfaces 3 and 4.

It will be readily seen that my improved hammer design provides mounting surfaces, these surfaces being 3 and 4 of Fig. 1. Thus, when the upper end of the felt pad 6 strikes a piano string, the felt cannot squeeze or distend laterally since it is confined by the surfaces just mentioned. This feature is important because it increases the wear-life of the felt pad yet permits achieving an extremely small hammer design.

It should be recognized that the pad-supporting section 2 may be altered in size and configuration without departing from this invention. For example, the height of the striking point in Fig. 1 may be somewhat greater than that illustrated, the important feature to be retained being the various fastening surfaces as already explained. Also, the felt 14 may comprise a laminated felt structure wherein a plurality of felt laminations making up the structure are of different degrees of softness. In such structure, the outer or striking lamination is softer than the others. The claims are intended to cover both single and multi-laminated structures.

While I have described above the principles of my invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An instrument of the character described comprising a single member having a W-shaped section, and a pad of hammer-felt material conformed and secured to said section, said pad being fastened to said section only along the two outer surfaces, said pad thereby being held in contact with the point of said section.

2. An instrument of the character described comprising a single elongated member having a W-shaped section formed in one longitudinal edge thereof near one end, the central portion of said section constituting the striking point, and a felt pad conformed to said striking point, said pad being secured only to the two outer sides of said section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED sTATEs PATENTS 504,192 Ammon Aug. 29, 1893 2,456,321 Rhodes Dec. 14, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 153,879 Great Britain Feb. 17, 1920 

